


The Warmth of You

by Persiflage



Series: Mashed Up Tropes Fics [13]
Category: Holby City
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Different First Meeting, Car Accidents, F/F, Huddling For Warmth, Hurt/Comfort, Injury, Mash-up, Originally Posted on Tumblr, Snow and Ice, Trope de Trope, Tumblr Prompt
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-25
Updated: 2020-11-25
Packaged: 2021-03-10 04:22:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,205
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27707573
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Persiflage/pseuds/Persiflage
Summary: Canon Divergence: Bernie's never yet worked at Holby City General Hospital when they have an encounter amid snow and ice.
Relationships: Serena Campbell/Bernie Wolfe
Series: Mashed Up Tropes Fics [13]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1960414
Comments: 3
Kudos: 61





	The Warmth of You

**Author's Note:**

> Written for an Anon for the Mashed Up Tropes Meme on Tumblr, for the tropes: 27. Sick/Injured Fic and 73. Stranded Due to Inclement Weather.

The hardest thing, Bernie Wolfe decides, is going to be keeping them both warm. Particularly as Serena Campbell’s got what Bernie suspects is a broken ankle and possibly a couple of cracked ribs, too. She’d managed to carry the brunette up out of the ravine that her car had gone into after it span off the road in the heavy snow and ice, but she’s not going to be able to carry Serena very far – her back won’t stand it. And her own car is now unusable since she’d first tried to tow Serena’s car out of the ravine, and instead it had slithered across the road and into one of the fence posts. Concrete plus car is not a recommended combination.

“Have you got anything useful for cold weather survival in your car?” Bernie asks, as she settles Serena sideways in the passenger seat of her own sports car.

“Hardly,” she snaps. “What do you think I am? Some kind of action woman?”

Bernie bites her lip, rather than antagonise the other woman any further. “Okay. Luckily, I do have a couple of things, but first of all, I’m going to strap up your ankle.”

“Bandaging a broken ankle is hardly going to help it to heal. Trust me, I’m a surgeon, I know this stuff.”

Bernie almost snorts at this. “I’m aware of that, Ms Campbell, but I’m afraid I cannot carry you any further –” 

“Bloody cheek of the woman!” 

Bernie frowns at her as she pulls what she wants from the boot of her car. “What?” she asks, confused by the other woman’s obvious fury.

“Calling me fat.”

“Um, I didn’t,” Bernie tells her. “If you’d let me finish, I would’ve explained that I’ve got chronic back issues. Carrying you up out of that ravine – carrying _anyone _out of that ravine – won’t have helped those issues. You’re lucky it wasn’t any deeper or I couldn’t have carried you out at all. Believe me, if I could, I’d carry you for miles rather than risk you walking on a broken ankle, but unfortunately, it’s a bit beyond me nowadays. Six months ago, I could’ve managed it, easily – I’ve carried heavier kits around than you – but –” She cuts herself off, flushing pink from embarrassment and shame.__

__“Just who are you?” asks Serena, sounding curious. She hadn’t seemed interested in an introduction before and Bernie had been far more concerned with trying to rescue her fellow motorist, particularly since she’d witnessed the accident that had sent Serena’s car into the ravine._ _

__Bernie sighs softly. “Major Berenice Wolfe, former trauma surgeon with the Royal Army Medical Corps.”_ _

__“Oh hell,” Serena says, a response that baffles Bernie. She frowns at the other woman and is grateful when, with a grimace, Serena elaborates. “I’ve read all your papers. Even tried to attend a couple of conferences specifically to hear you talk about trauma techniques, though I could never quite manage it. I’ve actually used a couple of your techniques at the hospital where I work.”_ _

__“So, what, you’re a fangirl?” Bernie asks, somewhat amused._ _

__Serena snorts. “Not precisely. Although not far off, I suppose. Fancy meeting the country’s foremost trauma surgeon and bitching at her like she’s a lowly F1.”_ _

__Bernie can’t help laughing at that, then laughs some more when she sees how startled Serena is by her ‘goose honk’ as her daughter, Charlie, always calls it._ _

__“Come on,” she says, once she’s managed to stop laughing. “Let’s get this ankle strapped up, then you can borrow my spare walking cane, and we’ll see if we can find somewhere to shelter because I doubt we’re getting out of this mess any time soon and the sky looks like it’s getting ready to dump more snow on us.”_ _

__“Lead on, my fearless, fantastic friend.”_ _

__Bernie snorts, shaking her head, then quickly bandages Serena’s ankle. “Do you have some more practical shoes in your car?”_ _

__Serena quirks an eyebrow. “What, you don’t like my kitten heels?” She shakes her head. “I don’t have any, I’m afraid. The trainers I wear during surgery are sitting in my locker.”_ _

__“You can borrow my running shoes, then,” Bernie says. “I think our feet are about the same size.”_ _

__“You run?” Serena asks, then snorts. “Of course you do.”_ _

__“Why of course?” Bernie asks, getting to her feet, intending to raid the contents of the kitbag in her car boot._ _

__“Well, just look at you.” Serena looks her up and down, her expression thoughtful and appraising._ _

__She looks down at herself, taking in her sturdy ankle books; the thick grey hiking socks, into the tops of which she’d tucked her bottom of her skinny jeans; and the padded and quilted waxed jacket she’s wearing over the top of a tight white t-shirt and a red flannel checked shirt – the latter two of which Serena can’t see since she’s zipped her coat up to the top. On her head, mostly covering the messy waves of her blonde hair, is a pale pink beanie hat, knitted by Charlie, and on her hands are her leather driving gloves._ _

__“What about me?” she asks curiously. Wondering just what it is that screams ‘runner’ to Serena._ _

__“Well, you’ve got legs that go on for miles,” the brunette says, pink tingeing her cheeks. “And you’re all –” She gestures emphatically, then adds, “Slim and gorgeous.”_ _

__“Oh. Um – well, I – um. Thanks.” Bernie’s sure her own cheeks are also tinged pink now. She ducks back around the car and opens her kitbag to find a spare pair of socks for Serena to wear, as much for warmth as to make sure her running shoes will fit okay._ _

__“Not to be prurient, but what are you wearing under your coat?”_ _

__Serena chuckles. “My, my, Major, getting a little ahead of ourselves, aren’t we?”_ _

__“Oh hush, you,” Bernie says, peering around the raised boot to see Serena’s eyes are shining with mirth._ _

__“I’m wearing a silk blouse and a cami top.”_ _

__“I’d better lend you a sweater then. You might get cold, otherwise, since your wool coat’s not as thick as my waxed jacket.”_ _

__“Are you sure you can spare it?” Serena asks._ _

__“Yeah. I’ve got another one in my kitbag.”_ _

__“Just where were you going with all this kit of yours? If you don’t mind me asking?”_ _

__“Oh, to my cottage for a few days before I start my new job on Monday.”_ _

__“You’ve got a cottage?”_ _

__“Yes. My Great Aunt left it to me when she died a couple of years ago. I was on tour at the time and didn’t get a chance to go up there. And while I’ve been back in the country for six months, I still haven’t had a chance to go up there. Until now.” Bernie snorts as she brings the sweater and socks she dug out of her kitbag, together with the running shoes and her spare, fold-up walking stick, which she’s unfolded in readiness for Serena to use._ _

__She hands Serena the sweater to put on since the brunette has already removed her coat in anticipation. Its forest green colour doesn’t really go well with the cobalt blue blouse, but Bernie doubts Serena will care much about that in the present circumstances. While she’s pulling on the sweater, Bernie removes her shoes and pulls on the spare pair of socks, being careful not to jostle her ankle, then she helps her to slide her feet into the denim blue running shoes and laces them up for her. Serena pulls her coat back on and buttons it, and Bernie stands back to allow her to get up from the passenger seat. She grabs Serena’s shoes and stows them in her boot, then pushes her First Aid kit into her kitbag, before adding the two heavy wool picnic blankets she always seems to carry as well. She lifts the bag carefully, then swings it up onto her back, wincing internally at the twinges that are set off by putting it on her back. She closes the boot, waits for Serena to close the passenger door, then locks her car._ _

__“Ready?” she asks._ _

__Serena nods. “As I’ll ever be.”_ _

__Bernie waits as she moves up the length of the car, walking stick in one hand, her other resting against the car body._ _

__“I’m sorry that I don’t have any gloves that you can borrow,” she says with real apology._ _

__“Well, yours wouldn’t fit, given how long your fingers are.” Serena gives her a brief smile, then steps away from Bernie’s car. She immediately holds out her arm, elbow crooked for Serena to hook her arm through, and she does so with a chuckle._ _

__“We must look quite daft,” she says, taking in Bernie’s own walking stick – an ebony affair with a silver wolf’s head atop it. “Did you buy that stick ironically?”_ _

__Bernie snorts. “My children have a very direct sense of humour, at times. I believe it was Charlie – Charlotte – who suggested the wolf’s head, and Cam – Cameron – who undertook to purchase it for me. They both struggled to contain their glee when they presented it to me while I was recovering in hospital.”_ _

__“Can I ask just what happened to you? Or would you rather not talk about it?”_ _

__Bernie gives a little shrug. Normally she doesn’t like to talk about it, but for some reason she feels very comfortable around Serena despite having only known her a couple of hours. “I got blown up in Afghanistan.”_ _

__Serena looks thoroughly appalled. “What? How?”_ _

__“A roadside IED. My team was driving out to a nearby village from our base near Kandahar. Unfortunately, my driver didn’t spot the IED until we were almost on it. She swerved, but it exploded and blew us off the road into a field. I don’t really remember much between the boom and coming to, hanging upside from my seat straps in the poppy field. Stupid thing was that my first thought wasn’t to worry about what had happened to me, but to wonder whether Alex was okay.”_ _

__“Alex?” Serena asks quietly._ _

__Bernie sighs. “Captain Alex Dawson, anaesthetist. My lover for a few brief weeks. Very much not allowed as it’s against protocol for a Major to be intimately involved with someone in the lower ranks.”_ _

__“Just like a consultant shouldn’t be involved with an F1,” Serena says, an odd note in her voice, which Bernie decides to pursue later._ _

__“Quite. We had to keep it a secret, therefore. And did so. We were in this amazing bubble and I thought nothing could ever penetrate it. Fool that I was. Anyway, I ended up with a pseudoaneurysm of the right ventricle, an unstable C5/C6 fracture, and a traumatised cervical disc in the same area. Once they’d stabilised me, I was flown back to England, to Birmingham in fact, where the Army maintains a unit for treating wounded service personnel who cannot be treated in the field by the likes of me.”_ _

__“You must have required a lot of surgery,” Serena says in a low voice._ _

__“Actually, the surgeons argued over who’d operate on me first, so I pulled rank and told them to do it together. My heart stopped while I was on the table and the cardio surgeon had to manually restart it – squeezed the life back into me, if you will. The neurosurgeon took out the traumatised disc and stabilised the fracture, but I’ve got intermittent chronic back pain as a consequence.”_ _

__“Good god,” Serena says softly, sounding appalled. “You must have needed quite a lot of time to recover.”_ _

__“Oh yes,” Bernie says. “Not least because I was temporarily paralysed afterwards. Just couldn’t get my ruddy legs to work for a few weeks. Then I did, and I was going to physiotherapy every day, thinking I’d be going back on tour just as soon as I was fit enough.”_ _

__“But?”_ _

__Bernie snorts. “But the hospital made a mistake, thought I had TB. I knew I didn’t, of course, but they put me in bloody quarantine anyway. And as a consequence of that incompetence, I lost my job.” She sighs heavily. “They’d just offered me a full commission for another ten years. I’d have made Lieutenant Colonel.”_ _

__“I’m so sorry.”_ _

__Bernie squeezes her arm, unable to speak for a moment, but heart warmed by the obvious sincerity in Serena’s words._ _

__“What happened to Alex?” she asks after a minute or so._ _

__Bernie sighs again. “That was over. She went back to our unit. I went back to my husband and children, told them I’m a lesbian, and asked Marcus for a divorce. He was furious – made a lot of disparaging remarks about women soldiers. Cam was very disappointed in me, but he didn’t hit me over the head with nasty remarks about my realisation that I’m a lesbian. Although he also didn’t talk to me for a few weeks. Charlie was deeply hurt, mostly that I’d had an affair, I think. She was also fairly understanding about the whole Sapphic thing, as she called it. But she took even longer to come around than Cam did.” She shakes her head. “Ironically, Marcus is the reason they’re both talking to me again, after ostracising me for so long.”_ _

__“How so?”_ _

__“He demanded that they both write a letter supporting him for the divorce – he wanted them to tell the judge what a lousy mother I’d been. Cam told me about it afterwards. He said Charlie was ‘spitting feathers’ because Marcus, in her estimation, had been as much of an absentee parent as I had. I didn’t know it, but once Cam turned sixteen Marcus would go to the pub with his mates after finishing a shift at the hospital, leaving Cam to take care of Charlie and ensure they both ate of an evening. He also went golfing most Saturdays, leaving them to fend for themselves.”_ _

__She blows out a breath. “I’d be the first to admit I’m no Maria von Trapp, but his behaviour was pretty inexcusable too, and so Charlie told him.” She chuckles. “My daughter can be pretty fierce when roused.”_ _

__“Do you suppose she gets that from you?” asks Serena, cheekily, in Bernie’s opinion._ _

__“Rude,” Bernie says with a splutter of indignation._ _

__Serena chuckles. “You said you’re starting a new job on Monday?”_ _

__Bernie nods, then steadies Serena when she stumbles on the snowy road. “Yes. Since I got out of hospital I’ve been working as a locum: started in Birmingham, then moved onto Coventry, Nottingham, and Gloucester. I’ve just spent a couple of weeks in Holby, at St Mary and St Mark’s. And on Monday I start at this place called Holby City General. Don’t know if you know it?” She smiles coyly at Serena when she snorts, then laughs._ _

__“Which ward will you be on?”_ _

__“Keller.”_ _

__“Keller?” Serena practically yells the word in disbelief. “Keller!”_ _

__“What’s wrong with Keller?”_ _

__“Well, it’s just general surgery. Electives. I’d have thought you’d be in the ED, at least. What a waste of the talents of the country’s foremost trauma surgeon. My god.”_ _

__“Keller is where they had a staffing issue,” Bernie explains, feeling warmed right through by Serena’s righteous indignation on her behalf._ _

__She looks up and something catches her eye. “Hold on,” she says, peering forward between the trees in the copse at the side of the wood. “I think there’s a building through there.” They make their way towards what is gradually revealed to be a cottage, and Bernie’s immensely glad that the path through the trees isn’t narrower or more fraught with obstacles._ _

__“It looks a bit of a wreck,” Serena observes doubtfully._ _

__“Yeah, but it’s intact, I think. It’d certainly be more adequate shelter than my car would’ve proved. Why don’t you wait here, and I’ll make a quick recce and see what’s what?”_ _

__“Okay. Just, don’t be too long, please.”_ _

__Serena sounds exhausted, Bernie notices. “I promise.” She slips her kitbag off her back, leaning it against the wall beside Serena, who’s propped herself against the wall, eyes closed and mouth tight with pain. Then Bernie makes her way around the building and notes there’s a weathered ‘For Sale’ sign in the front garden, leaning rather haphazardly towards the somewhat overgrown hedge. She continues her circuit, and notices there’s a wood pile tucked under a sloping roofed lean-to next to what looks like the kitchen door. She leans against the door, cupping her hands around her face and sees a modern Aga across the room._ _

__She continues around to where she left Serena. “Come on,” she says. “I think I can get the kitchen door open without breaking the window.” She hefts up her kitbag and lifts it onto her back again, then clasps Serena’s elbow and guides her back the way she just came._ _

__She delves into a side pocket on her kitbag and pulls out a small roll of khaki coloured canvas. “You didn’t see this,” she tells Serena in a low voice._ _

__“Military secrets?” she whispers, sounding thrilled._ _

__Bernie chuckles as she selects a tool and begins to fiddle with the keyhole. “No, it’s just not something I should be doing, or you should see me doing._ _

__“Oh.”_ _

__“Sorry to disappoint, love,” Bernie says, and grins triumphantly when the door clicks. “Come on, let’s get in and get you warmed up.”_ _

__~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~_ _

__A couple of hours later, the cottage is feeling quite cosy, heat from the fireplace in the large sitting-cum-dining room is making Serena sleepy to judge from her drooping eyelids._ _

__“Here,” Bernie says, and sets down a tray on the coffee table in front of the sofa where Serena’s sitting with her ankle propped up. “Hot soup and warm bread. Tea and a slice of chocolate cake.”_ _

__“Don’t tell me you had all that in your kitbag?” Serena sounds disbelieving, then swats at Bernie’s arm when she smirks in response to the question._ _

__“Well, I was going to a cottage that no one’s lived in for more than two years and I have no idea where the nearest shops are in relation to the cottage. It seemed wise to bring something with me for tonight’s dinner and tomorrow’s breakfast.”_ _

__“Proper little Girl Guide, aren’t you?”_ _

__Bernie snorts. “I was never a Girl Guide. I’m just boringly practical, I’m afraid. Twenty five years of army life, you know.”_ _

__“Boring is one thing you’re definitely not,” Serena says firmly. “What’s in this soup?”_ _

__“Chicken, soy sauce, chilli sauce, ginger, plus shiitake mushrooms, red pepper, and snap peas. I just hope it’s not too spicy for you.”_ _

__“It sounds delicious.”_ _

__“Well then, bon appetit.” Bernie hands Serena one of the bowls of soup and a spoon, then sets the plate holding the slices of bread on the arm of the sofa. “Try not to knock that off.”_ _

__“I won’t.”_ _

__“Good.”_ _

__They eat in a companionable silence that’s only broken by the noise of the logs in the fireplace and the scrape of their spoons in their bowls. The soup bowls and bread plates are swapped for the plates holding the slices of cake, and Bernie almost freezes at the unselfconscious moan that issues from Serena at her first taste of the rich chocolate cake. She makes herself relax, then silently tucks into her own slice._ _

__After they’ve finished eating, Bernie heads back to the kitchen to wash up, then she returns to the sitting room._ _

__“I know it’s early, but I think I might go to bed,” Serena says._ _

__“I was just going to suggest that,” she says. “I think it might be best if we share a bedroom – well, share a bed, really, so that we can share body heat. If that’s – if that’s acceptable to you?”_ _

__“Sounds like the smartest thing.”_ _

__“Good.” Bernie shoulders her kitbag, then gestures for Serena to go upstairs first. “I thought the room on the left as we get to the top of the stairs as that’s above where the sitting room is, and it should be somewhat warmer from the rising heat.”_ _

__“Okay.” Serena hobbles into the room, leaning even more heavily on her borrowed walking stick._ _

__“This room also has the added bonus of an ensuite bathroom,” Bernie tells her, following her and slipping her kitbag from her back with relief. “So we won’t have far to go in the dark.”_ _

__Serena nods, then looks at the double bed, over which Bernie has spread one of her picnic blankets. “What about pillows?” she asks._ _

__“I thought our folded coats would probably work best. Then we’ve got the second picnic blanket to use as a cover.”_ _

__“That sounds like a good plan.”_ _

__“Why don’t you go ahead and use the bathroom,” Bernie suggests. “There’s a new toothbrush in there, along with my tube of toothpaste, and a spare towel and face cloth.”_ _

__“Thank god I got rescued by an army girl,” Serena says in a fervent tone as she moves towards the bathroom._ _

__Bernie chuckles, pleased that Serena’s making this easy. She fetches their coats from downstairs, having hung them up in the kitchen to dry in the warmth of the Aga, and folds them into makeshift pillows. She can’t help worrying, however, that neither of them has been able to get a network signal on their mobile phones. Serena really ought to be in hospital, not tromping around the countryside._ _

__The woman in question reappears, looking ready to fall asleep at any second. “I suppose we’d better sleep in our clothes.”_ _

__Bernie gapes at her and for a moment she looks confused, then she laughs. “God, no, I wasn’t suggesting we get naked. I was thinking you might have pyjamas or something in your kitbag.”_ _

__Bernie can feel herself blushing and wishes she wasn’t. “No. Yes. I mean, yes, I do have pyjamas in my kitbag, though only the one pair. And yes, it’d be better if we keep our clothes on because we’ve already generated a fair bit of body heat. Putting on cold clothes would not be a wise move.” She gestures at the bed. “Why don’t you get settled while I quickly use the bathroom, then we can share the other picnic blanket?”_ _

__“Yes, I shall be glad to stretch out.”_ _

__“How are your ribs feeling?”_ _

__“Aching horribly.”_ _

__“I’m sorry,” Bernie says automatically._ _

__“Shh, none of that. Go and clean your teeth, then we can get some sleep. Perhaps we’ll have a phone signal in the morning.”_ _

__Bernie nods. She’s already decided that if they don’t have one by morning, she’ll leave Serena here and go in search of help._ _

__When she walks back out of the ensuite a few minutes later, she thinks Serena’s already gone to sleep, but the brunette opens her eyes when Bernie approaches the bed and gives her a tired smile._ _

__“Hey,” she says softly._ _

__“Hi,” Serena says._ _

__Bernie unfolds the second picnic blanket and spreads it out over Serena and the free side of the bed, then removes her boots and settles under the blanket. “Are you comfortable, and warm enough?_ _

__“As warm and comfortable as I can be, I think.”_ _

__“We could – uh –” Bernie clears her throat. “We could cuddle up if you want.”_ _

__“Would you mind?”_ _

__“Of course not.” Bernie shuffles closer to the middle of the bed and when Serena moves nearer too, she spoons her. “Better?”_ _

__“Yes, thank you.”_ _

__“Good.”_ _

__~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~_ _

__They’re woken a little after four o’clock the next morning by both their phones pinging into life as the mobile network returns, and while neither one of them is happy to be woken so early, the fact that they can now get help is a huge relief. They agree to have some breakfast – more warm bread and a cup of tea apiece – before Bernie calls for an ambulance, then calls for assistance for their cars._ _

__“I don’t think I should come with you to the hospital,” Bernie says, after she’s called for an ambulance, wondering if Serena can tell how much she wants to. “One of us needs to be around for the AA to rescue our cars and obviously that cannot be you.”_ _

__“Will you head for your cottage after this?”_ _

__Bernie snorts. “I don’t think that’d be very wise, in the circumstances. No, I’ll just head back to Holby. Great Aunt Lavinia’s cottage can wait a bit longer.”_ _

__“Okay. Thank you for all your assistance. I’m sorry I was a bit grouchy at first.” Serena looks forlorn, Bernie thinks, and can’t help squeezing her shoulder._ _

__“It’s fine. Quite understandable, in the circumstances.” She makes a note of all the details of Serena’s AA account on her phone, then they both hear the sound of the ambulance pulling up outside, and she goes to the door to let in the paramedics._ _

__They get Serena settled in a wheelchair and take her out to the ambulance and Bernie watches as they load her up, raising her hand to salute the other woman before Serena’s moved out of sight. Then she lifts her kitbag onto her back, clasps her stick firmly, and heads off in the opposite direction, to where they left the cars. As she hikes back through the copse, she cannot help wondering if Serena likes her as much as she likes (is strongly attracted to) her._ _

**Author's Note:**

> Originally posted [here](https://pers-books.tumblr.com/post/629935166956224512/well-we-cant-have-you-running-out-of-trope).


End file.
